Electron discharge device



July 13, 1943. H, J DMLEY 2,324,367

ELECTRON DISCHARGE DEVICE 7 Filed Sept. 30, 1941 2 Sheets-Shea? 1 n 1111,1110, I/A- n r 'IIIIIIIII July 13, 1943. H. J. DAILEY 2,324,367

ELECTRON DISCHARGE DEVICE Filed Sept. 30, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR A J. Dfi/L 5) WWW ATTORNEY Patented July 13, 1943 2,324,367 ELECTRON DISCHARGE DEVICE Hampton Jennings Dailey, Bloomfield, N. J., assignor to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application September 30, 1941, Serial No. 412,985

'7 Claims.

This invention relates to electron discharge devices generally, and more specifically to electrode assembly units for such devices.

Prior art electron discharge devices, particularly transmitting tubes and others subject to high voltages have presented unsolved problems which the present invention successfully overcomes. Explanatory of this allegation, it may be stated that electron discharge devices wherein electrode support is obtained by a binding collar on the stem of the tube have required or used a multiplicity of supporting wires and bulky insulators, or a support of some reenforced crosssection, such as T, channel or L supports, connected to the anode and extending to the said collar. Such supports were not well separated from the high voltage sections of the tube even when not directly connected to the anode. Such supports likewise have the additional objection, that, at high frequencies the anode-to-support capacitance builds up a high voltage field between the stem collar and the leads within the stem. Those forms of prior art devices using or requiring bulky insulators introduced the further problem of harboring excessive gas which was difiicult or even impossible to eliminate, to the .great detriment of the device in use.

The present invention has for an object, the correction of the shortcomings and the solution of the problems presented by prior art devices.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an electron discharge device which shall be simple as to the number of parts required, and easy to fabricate and assemble the parts.

' A further object of the invention is to provide a device having the qualities just enumerated and at the same time of a character which will withstand high voltages, higher than devices of the prior art, and with a larger safety factor as to leakage paths along insulator surfaces.

Another object of the invention is to electrically insulate and isolate elements of high voltage from the supporting collar on the stem.

, Again, an object of the invention is provision of a structure easily adaptable to various sizes of parts, such as anodes, grids and other elements employed.

Finally, it may be said that the invention contemplates other objects and advantages, both implied and specifically recited, which will be found in the context of the disclosure of specification and drawings.

'-Referring to the accompanying drawings wherein like numerals of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a view the greater part of which is in longitudinal section and showing an electron discharge device embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a top View of the device, looking through the glass envelope shown;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on line III-III of Fig. l, in conjunction with a stem and collar and their associated parts before joining with the electrode assembly, for showing the mode of applying the assembly in place;

Figure 4 is a sectional view on line IV-IV of Fig. 3;

Figure 5 is an enlarged plan of an end portion of one arm of the upper insulating spacer and the attached means for bracing the assembly from the envelope, as viewed from line VV of Fig. 3; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of one of the channel supports used between the upper and lower spacers.

In the specific embodiment of the invention as illustrated, the electron discharge device comprises an envelope l8 having a reentrant stem l l extending upwardly into the body portion of the same. Said reentrant stem has a press l2 in which are secured a plurality of spaced conductors l3, l4 and I5 extending interiorly and exteriorly of said envelope.

A flexible metallic band or collar 16 is wrapped around the stem I I below the press 12 and is held in tight gripping engagement therewith by means of a nut and bolt arrangement ll. Secured to said collar l6 and situated at opposite sides of the press I2, are two standards l8, 18 of reenforced cross-section, preferably of channel formation for purposes of rigidity and for attachment of an electrode assembly unit thereto. Said standards are shown extending somewhat outwardly and upward from the collar and have the electrode assembly unit secured thereto at their upper ends, it being here called to attention that said standards do not extend further than the lower spacer of the said unit.

The electrode assembly unit provides as part thereof, upper and lower parallel and insulating cruciform spacers l 9, 2!]. The lower one of these spacers, 20, is secured at outer ends of one crossarm thereof to the upper ends of said standards [8, [8, such attachment being effected as one of the last steps of assembly and after the electrode assembly unit is completely put together. The cross-arm of the spacer preferably has a width enabling its ends to enter between the flanges of the standards, and is held in such position by tions of the webs which thus comprise tabs 23 having a width substantially equal to the diameter of said holes. The lower ends of the flanges of the channel supports rest on the upper surface of the spacer cross-arm and are held tightly thereagainst by extending the tabs 23 through the holes of the spacer cross-arm and clinching said tabs beneath the spacer.

At the upper ends of the channel supports 22, the webs thereof are again narrowed to provide upwardly projecting tabs 24, 24 which in this instance are preferably twisted so as to stand in a plane transverse to the web and parallel to the planes of the flanges. The upper cruciform spacer I9 has a cross-arm parallel to and corresponding to the lower cross-arm on which said upright supports are mounted, said cross-arm of the upper spacer also having holes alined with the heretofore described holes of the lower cross-arm. These upper holes receive the twisted upper tabs of the supports therethrough, the upper ends of said tabs projecting above the upper surface of the cross-arm.

The upper ends of the flanges of the channel supports 22, 22, form shoulders upon which the superposed cross-arm of the upper spacer rest for support. Immediately above, and in engagement with the spacer at each end part of the cross-arm mounted on said supports, are anglepieces 25, 25 of wire one leg of which is welded or otherwise secured to the projecting end of the tab 24 and extends along the upper surface of the spacer toward the outer end of the cross-arm. Said angle piece of wire provides a vertical leg depending into another hole for the purpose, said vertical leg depending a short distance below the spacer.

At the outer end of each upper cross-arm of the spacer, is provided means for bracing the spacer with respect to the envelope. As shown, said brace is a horizontally disposed flexible strip 26 edgewise in a vertical position with its middle opposite the end of the spacer cross-arm. Said flexible strip of the brace is secured next the end of the cross-arm by a clip 21 the body of which is juxtaposed against the end of said cross-arm interposed between said end and the said strip. Next the outer ends of said body portion of the clip, at top and bottom edges thereof, are provided ears 28 which are clinched around the juxtaposed edges of the strip thereby firmly securing the strip to the clip. Medially of the upper and lower edges of the bod of the clip and integral therewith are attaching brackets 29 of U- shape with the legs of the upper one of the brackets projecting inwardly of the cross-arm on the upper face thereof and with said legs straddling the aforementioned angle piece of wire 25 at its elbow, and secured thereto. The U- shaped legs of the lower bracket project inwardly of the cross-arm along its under face and straddle the lower projecting end of the angle piece of wire, likewise being secured thereto. Accordingly the clip is held firmly in place and the angle piece of wire is also held securely; Since on the one cross-arm the angle pieces of wire are also secured to the twisted tabs of the channel supports, the spacer is thereby held securely to the said supports. On the other cross-arm, the angle piece of wire has its horizontal leg secured to upwardly projecting ends of grid posts 30. Thus all four ends of the cruciform spacer are resiliently braced from the envelope.

An anode 3|, preferably of carbon, is provided, said anode, as hereinafter described, being supported from the channel supports 22, 22, whereas the other electrodes, that is, cathode 32 and grid 33, have their mounting from the cross-arms of the spacers perpendicular to the ones which mount the channel supports and anode. It will now be appropriate and more convenient to refer to the crossarms of each spacer, one as the cathode mounting cross-arm, and the other as the anode-mounting cross-arm.

Grid 33 is shown as a helically wound wire each turn of which is spot-welded or otherwise secured to parallel grid posts 30, 30 which extend through appropriate holes in both spacers, and are attached at their upper ends to the angle pieces of wire as heretofore described, being thereby prevented from longitudinal movement. One of these grid posts 30 depends far enough below the lower spacer to be ultimately spot-welded -01- otherwise secured to the appropriate conductor l3.

An M-shaped filamentary cathode 32 is shown, the same being disposed within the helical grid 33 substantially in the medial plane thereof. The ends of the filamentary cathode are secured to leg connectors 34 of unique structure and function. Said leg connectors 34 are partly within the grid and extend downwardly to the cathode supporting cross-arm where they bend horizontally toward each other as at 35 and are there situated in a horizontal groove 36. The leg connectors then bend downwardly at 31 to pass through holes in the spacer cross-arm below which they are bent diagonally outward below the horizontal portions 35 to provide protruding attaching ends 38. The bend producing the slope of said attaching ends is of suificient angle to prevent the upward movement of the leg connectors, thus holding the horizontal portion in said groove. The construction accordingly situates the leg connectors so as to be both longitudinally and rotatably fixed. The protruding attaching ends 38 are ultimately secured, as by spot welding to the appropriate conductors l4, l5.

The midpoint of the cathode 32 is positioned by a hook member 39 from the lower spacer. The apices or bights of the cathode are engaged by hook members 40 each of which is supported by a spring 4| seated in a counter-sunk pocket in the upper spacer cathode-supporting arm.

The anode comprises an elongated hollow member consisting of two fiat sides 42 of sufficient width and arrangedparallel to each other and integral with two curved portions 43 forming the other sides. A cross-sectional View, as in Fig. 4, is in the form of a rectangle having rounded ends. At the mid-width of each of said flat sides, and next both the top and bottom thereof, are outwardly extending lugs 44 which extend outwardly to the supports 22, '22 and into the space between the flanges thereof. 45 extend through said flanges and lugs, thereby securely mounting the anode with respect to said supports 22, 22.

Connecting lead for the anode is shown at 46 at the side of the stem removed from the standards I-8, l8. An extension 41 from said lead extends upwardly and is bent horizontally at its upper end to be ultimately clinched and spot welded or otherwise secured to one of the depending tabs 23 of channel support 22. This particular tab may be longer than the opposite one if so desired.

In manufacture, the electrode assembly unit comprising the electrodes, spacers and protruding parts, is completed and then applied as a unit upon the standards l8, Hi to thereby mount the unit on the stem. In accomplishing this mounting, the electrode assembly unit is moved in a direction longitudinal of itself and of the standards, so the appropriate ends of the oathode supporting cross-arm of the lower spacer will enter into the ends of the channel formation of the standards. If desired, lips can be bent inward from the standards to act as stops as to insertion of the spacer downwardly into the standards. The positioning is made permanent by inserting pins 2 I, 2i through the standard flanges and the spacer cross-arm, the anode lead connection is clinched, and the several conductors welded to the respective electrode as heretofore described. The structure is accordingly very readily assembled, and yet I provide a structure of adequate rigidity but without undesirable location of the standards in the area around the anode or the channels by which said anode is carried by the spacers.

I claim:

1. An electron discharge device comprising an evacuated envelope having a reentrant stem, a pair of electrode spacers transverse to and above said stem, a pair of supports between opposite parts of each spacer, an anode carried by said supports, a cathode and a grid within the anode and carried by the spacers, and standards attached to said stem and lower spacer, said standards being angularly displaced from the said supports at their respective places of attachment to the said lower spacer, and said standards bein electrically insulated from said anode, and from said supports.

2. An electron discharge device comprising an evacuated envelope having a reentrant stem, an electrode assembly unit including upper and lower spacers, electrodes therebetween and supports at the outside of and supporting one said electrode at opposite sides thereof, said supports extending from one spacer to the other and secured to each, standards attached to and extending upwardly from said stem, the upper ends of said standards having channel formation and receiving end portions of the lower spacer therein, and pins through said standards and spacers for mounting the electrode assembly unit on said standards.

3. An electron discharge device comprising an evacuated envelope having a cathode, a grid and an anode, spacers above and below said anode, supports between said spacers at opposite sides of the anode, said supports having channel formation with the flanges thereof directed inwardly toward the anode, lugs on said anode at medial parts of the same, said lugs projecting outwardly from the anode into the space between the flanges of said supports, and pins through said flanges and lugs for mounting the anode in place. v

4. In an electron discharge device having electrodes comprising a filamentary cathode, a grid and an anode a spacer below said electrodes, said spacer having a groove in its upper face in the plane of said cathode, and leg connectors connected to said cathode as part of a heating electric circuit therefor, said leg connectors havin portions thereof longitudinally of said groove for preventing said leg connectors from twisting with respect to said spacer.

5. In an electron discharge device having electrodes comprising a filamentary cathode, a grid and an anode, a spacer below said electrodes, said spacer having a groove in its upper face in the plane of said cathode, and leg connectors connected to said cathode as part of a heating electric circuit therefor, said leg connectors having portions thereof longitudinally of said groove at the top of the spacer and having other parts projecting through said spacer and bent therebelow, whereby the said leg connectors are retained in fixed position on the spacer and prevented from both longitudinal and rotative movement.

6. In an electron discharge device having an evacuated envelope and having electrodes therein, an upper spacer for said electrodes, means between said envelope and spacer for resiliently bracing the spacer from the envelope, clips for mounting said means on the spacer, and angle pieces of wire each having one leg thereof projecting through the spacer and each having its other leg extending along a face of said spacer, said angle pieces of wire constituting means for both securing the electrode and for securing the clip, said electrode being secured to one leg of the angle piece of wire and the clips being secured to the other leg above and below the spacer.

7. In an electron discharge device having an evacuated envelope and having electrodes therein, an upper four-arm spacer for said electrodes, means between said envelope and the outer end of each arm of the spacer for resiliently bracing the spacer from the envelope, identical clips at the ends of all said arms for mounting said means on the spacer, angle pieces of wire each having one leg on the top of the spacer and secured each to a part connected to an electrode and having each another leg projecting through the spacer and secured above and below the same to said clips whereby said electrodes and said means are securely attached to said spacer.

HAMPTON JENNINGS DAILEY. 

